Rockford, in the Rain

Welcome back, readers.

So, weeks ago, Kris and I had planned on an overnight trip down to Rockford to hang out with my best friend, Black Paul, and his wife, Sam, and their daughter, Delia. Kris was set upon seeing some kinda lantern thingy (think Tangled, I guess) at the local zoo down there, but unfortunately with Alayna's end of the school year plans, we weren't able to head down there until Saturday (today.) At that point, the lantern event was over and done with, so she reluctantly relented on pushing for it.

Rockford Brewing - one of those places I'm always cool with visiting here. 

BP suggested going to the beach at Muskegon instead, making a day trip out of it, which we were totally on board with. Unfortunately, the weather ended up being downright crappy this weekend - it rained almost non-stop Saturday and Sunday, and so the beach idea, too, was shelved. We still planned on going downstate to hang out with them - they always come up to visit us, for our Halloween parties, etc. so it was only fair we return the favor - and basically resigned ourselves to just going along with the flow.

I had some roasted chicken falafel wrap thing that was super good. . .

Upon arrival, around 1pm, everyone was hungry and we ended up over at Rockford Brewing for some lunch, some beers, and some strategizing for how the rest of the day would pan out. I'll cut this short and just let the pics and video do the talking folks, you know the drill around these parts.

Enjoy. . .

So at lunch we decided that Kris and Sam would take Abby and Delia (Alayna stayed behind in Midland because her friends' annual, end-of-school-year party had been switched to Saturday, after all that re-planning on our part) shopping around downtown Rockford to hit up some local shops and boutiques. This freed up The Knights of Pokemon to head into downtown Grand Rapids to check out the area's greatest vinyl record store (which I was obviously totally cool with.)

Vertigo Music. BP's talked about this place before, and the last couple times we've hit up record stores in Rockford they've been the smaller, shittier ones. This one had a ridiculous selection to choose from, and I could have spent hours in there.

There's a sweet spot when it comes to buy records in a store, though. See, while this place had a ridiculous amount of new vinyl on hand, and they were below the Discogs asking price, they seemed to hover around what you could get them for on, say, Amazon. I have sooo many records these days that I'm only hunting down a few, elusive albums for my collection, so I can't just waltz into a place and come out with an armload of new records without purging once I get home. I couldn't find any of the albums I wanted off my to-buy list among the 'new' section, so I went into the 'used' vinyl. Their prices for used vinyl was beyond stupid - only a couple bucks cheaper than the new versions, which is absolutely absurd. I ended up walking out of their with one, new album (from Calexico), so it wasn't a total wash, but still - kind of a let down.

While BP (who ended up walking out with four albums) and I were shopping for vinyl, Kris and Abby and the DeBoers bounced around different shops, checking stuff out. At some point, I guess, there was some kinda loom or something? I'm not sure where this is, or what that's doing there, or anything - I just pulled pics off Kris' phone, folks.

After an hour or so, BP left Vertigo Music. I'd definitely return  to this one, but my expectations would be adjusted for sure.

Heading back to the car, in the rain.

We met Kris and the others back at the DeBoer residence, where BP and I re-sleeved his new acquisitions and tested the out on his turntable. His collection is coming along, but he's not looking to expand past the cabinet he has here, so he's more or less in the same situation as I am (just on a much smaller scale, obviously.)

After an hour or so back at their house, we decided to head back into downtown Rockford to do something else.

BP has told me before - multiple times - about this retro, arcade spot in Rockford that he and Delia frequent from time to time, and suggested we hit it up (knowing my affection for old videogames from my childhood.)

So this joint, Pinball Land, is a pay-by-the-hour venue, which is honestly way better than nickle-and-diming you to pay per machine (I wish Brinstar in Midland was more like this, honestly.) 

We all paid $7 per person for an hour's worth of unlimited game time, which - if you do the math - is cheaper than what you'd pay if you were paying 25 or 50 cents per play anyway (the fancier games sometimes charge $1 per play, too.)

Kris and Abby battle it out in Street Fighter II

Whooped Abby's ass in this head-to-head driving simulator (which, by the way, would have been one of those $1-per-play games back in the day, 100%.)

I was excited to come across this nefarious relic from my Showbiz Pizza Place days. Good to see it's still nearly IMPOSSIBLE to play as ever (I couldn't advance past the first five seconds of the game, still can't play it for shit.) You should Youtube this bullshit and see for yourself how emotionally scarring this game is.

They have a couple different rooms in this joint, filled with retro arcade games, pinball games, and larger more-immersive setups (like the head-to-head racing games Abby and I were playing earlier.)

Sam and Kris, playing some pinball.

Abby and Delia race each other on motorcycles. . .

Yes, they even have a game based on cornhole (or, 'bags' as they call it. . . for whatever stupid reason.)

This games was definitely harder than the real thing, and I'm not even all that great at that.

Kris tries out X-Men (the options for which X-Man you got to be were super lame, though - no Gambit?!)

Sam and Abby try out some Dance Revolution game thing.

I had Abby play me in one of the greatest retro arcade games of all time, NBA Jam. I'm not even a sports guy (as you know), but everyone needs to respect a classic.

After the arcade, Kris, Sam and the girls headed back to the DeBoer residence while BP and I ran out to pick up a couple pizzas (neither of us were that hungry, but womenfolk were starting to get there.)  Along the way, we snapped a pic to send to Kimmel - the third piece of our Triforce - who unfortunately couldn't be there to hang out with us

Back the house, as folks began to dig into pizza, we put on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ('cause it's BP and I, for Christ's sake), and BP and I cracked a couple beers. I had brought along my travel cooler filled with a couple hand-selected craft beers for this evening, the first of which being this one. It was. . . okay. Kinda pissed I spent money on it, actually.

BP used this time to continue working on one of his 'Treat Yo'Self' purchases from the last couple months - a Lego Rivendell (from Lord of the Rings) set, which consists of thousands of pieces and multiple bags of pieces. The price tag of this thing rivals some of my nicer swords, folks.

Abby and her damn selfies. . . she's as bad as her mom.

Nothing to see here, folks - just adult men in their 40's playing with Lego. . .

This set came with a dozen or so figures from the movie (the first installment of the trilogy, obviously) including these three - Sam, Frodo, and old-ass Bilbo.

This was a pretty run-of-the-mill pilsner - similar to a Bud Lite - but for $4 for a four pack of 16oz tall boys, and considering the cool can design, it was kinda hard to pass it up.

We went at this for a couple hours, things got dicey from time to time. I can't imagine these more deluxe sets are geared towards children, we were having a hell of a time.

About 20% done at this point, and we never came close to finishing the set while we were down there - we stopped shortly after this roof was accomplished. Around 11pm, the womenfolk all went to bed, with BP and I following suit about an hour or two later. In the morning, after a quick breakfast and coffee, we said our farewells to the DeBoers and headed back up north for home, a fun lil' day trip downstate in the books.

- Brian

The Knights of Poke'mon in, 'The Thwarted Thumb Operation' (Pt. III)

(contd.)

A solid chunk of the third day of our adventures with the DeBoer family this weekend centered around games with the kids, hanging out in the house and knocking out some of our classic go-to options:  Werewolf, Clue, Five-Minute Dungeon, etc.

After lunch, once everyone had slowly gotten around for the day, Kris was getting antsy and suggested we go for a walk out in Midland City Forest, seeing how the weather was turning out to be pretty awesome. 

We hadn't been up here since probably April or so.  Kinda forget this place exists a lot of the time.

Clearly, Kris is having a better time here than Sam is. . .

We did a five-mile loop through the forest, veering to the North immediately upon entering the trails then looping up and around the marshes and back around to the bridge.

Closing in on the bridge. . .

That water looks disgusting.

After getting more than our fair share of steps in for the day, we headed back into town.  Rain clouds - as you can see here - were starting to form up, so we figured we'd hit up the mall and let the kids shop around (the three of them all expressed interest in hitting up the Barnes & Noble.)

Delia and Abby, screwing around in one of these little kid ride-thingies in the mall.

Back home, we had about an hour to kill before heading into The Commons in downtown Midland for dinner, so we busted out another board game to burn some time.

Delia has a pretty intense gluten allergy, so her dining options downtown were somewhat limited. Pizza Baker offered gluten-free pizza options, so the DeBoers placed a few orders there and Sam hung back with her to wait for the pizza to come up.

While they were waiting for their pizzas, BP and we Houghs walked a block down the road to Brinstar, that new arcade/bar/restaurant that opened up last summer. 

It's for the Children.

Alayna was dying for a cheeseburger from here, so we figured we'd snag a picnic table outside for when Sam and Delia returned so they could eat their pizza without getting yelled at by the servers inside.

Abby requests another .5 wide-angle pic.

The Johnsons met us downtown shortly after we started ordering food at Brinstar. Our server was more than a little rude about ordering beers 'to go' then drinking them inside (the to-go cups used for the outdoor Commons area of downtown apparently can't be consumed inside, even if you order them from that particular establishment. . . which makes zero sense, honestly.)  We had ordered to-go cups because at first we weren't sure if we were drinking outside with the pizza-eaters out at the picnic table, or inside at a table. . . it wasn't like we were sneaking in drinks from another place.

Eventually our server's shift ended and she was replaced with a much nicer server who, after talking to the manager, said it was fine to drink beers in whatever cup we wanted so long as they were purchased at that bar. Still, the customer service was so bad that Erik and I completely soured to the place.

Wrapping up food and drinks at Brinstar.

After leaving Brinstar, we made our way back towards the heart of Main Street.  Had to get a pic of BP double-fisting drinks in front of an old lady store on the main drag.

The girls at one point started digging through books at a portable give-one/take-one library kiosk that sat outside one of the storefronts.

The historic Larkin Building. Our Masonic Lodge meets on the top floor, and has for over one hundred years.

Waiting for the kids to grab some ice cream cones from Pizza Sam's.

Spotted a sticker from an old, old FM radio station still plastered on the bottom of a window among the various storefronts. This is probably forty or so years old, at least - every since I can remember (mid/late-80s-ish) WIOG was 102.5 and a Top 40 pop station.  I have no memory of it ever being a rock station.

Abby and her gigantic ice cream.

After grabbing some ice cream, we meandered over to Whichcraft for another round of drinks.

While BP, Erik and I ordered some more beers, Alayna followed us in and asked if she could get something. I had the bartender whip up one of the tap room's non-alcoholic 'mocktails.' This here's a booze-free version of a mojito.

In six years, this chick's gonna be straight-up trouble. Kris requested I pick her up a fruit punch seltzer from Odd Side ales while I was in there ordering drinks, but all I heard was 'fruit punch. . . vodka.'  I placed the order and the bartender had to get creative with it, seeing how he didn't have fruit punch on hand (you know, because it's a bar for grown ups and not six-year-old kids.)  Eventually he whipped up something with vodka, cranberry juice, orange juice, grenadine, and a splash of lime that did the trick. . . but Kris was super weirded-out when I brought her her drink.  Whoops.

The Midland Commons.

A pretty awesome night for walking around and drinking outdoors.

The Cannonball and her mocktail.  And yes, America, she is wearing shorts, you just can't see 'em: we may be those parents that order our child a cocktail at a bar, but we do insist she wears pants while doing so.

Shitty servers aside, we decided to pass some time back at Brinstar - the kids were really wanting to play some old school arcade games. Erik and I kept our peace and just passed the time drinking beer and not picking fights.

Abby gets ready to f*** shit up. . .

This game is pretty awesome. . .

NBA Jam is one of my all-time favorite sports games, so the fact they have this on hand is pretty bad-ass.

This one was never one of my favorites, but it definitely got some use while we were there.

Courtney and the Cannonball

BP and I spent a solid chunk of time duking it out on NBA Jam. . .

Delia and Abby on the Pac-Man table. . .

This was the pinnacle of sports gaming back in the early '90s, folks.

I went the Pistons. Obviously.

The screen on this game was pretty jacked up.  Noticed a lot of the games in the arcade this evening were out of order or glitchy - they need to get their tech support on that.

Neo-Geo used to have the most graphically-advanced titles out there. Back in, like, 1991, that is.

Thug. Life.

BP tries his hand at wasting some drug lords. . .

I don't get the girls' obsession with this game. Alayna is now requesting we purchase one for our own basement (that's not happening.)

I hate this f***ing game. . .

After an hour or two at Brinstar, we said farewell to the Johnsons and made our way back down to where we had parked Kris' van. On the walk back, we passed by the side entrance to our Lodge (those lights are illuminated when there's a meeting in session.)

Everyone started to crash when we got back to the house, but BP and I decided to stay up, listen to vinyl, and put a serious dent in this superb bourbon BP brought up with him.

Slainte, America. Until next time. . .

- Brian